Wrongful Imprisonment
by SuperNeos2
Summary: One stupid drunk night of fun ends with the guys arrested and put in the big house. Knowing that they have no choice, the guys plan an escape to clear their names. Friendships and relationships are tested in these circumstances and they just might be broken forever. J/H, E/D, L/F


**Disclaimer: Don't own That '70s Show**

**AN: Yep, I'm bringing my lazy ass back to this fandom since I got my muse back after watching the show again the past few days. I got the idea for this after watching the Season 2 finale in which Hyde got arrested for Jackie's drugs.**

**This story doesn't follow that. If I wanna be accurate, I'm gonna say it takes place around Season 3. I really don't have a specific timeframe in mind.**

**This is more of an action and drama heavy story than a typical romance, although there will be eventual Hyde/Jackie. It won't be for awhile though, if you can't tell by the summary of the story. This is more of a friendship story between the guys.**

**Hope you guys enjoy since I'm gonna enjoy this story. I'll be going back to Drowning in Sorrow soon too if you know me from before.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 1- First Hour

It was a non cloudy morning in Point Place Wisconsin. The sun was shining, birds were chirping on the porch of a white house, all that cliché stuff. It would've been the perfect start to a day, but the occupants of the white house were probably not going to have a good day in a long time.

The front door opened, the tall form of Red Forman stepping out and angrily shooing the birds off his morning newspaper.

"Damn birds," he groaned, bending over and taking the paper. Stepping back into the house, he stared at the front headline, feeling his frown start to deepen and some sadness grow.

'Four Teenagers sentenced to life for murder!'

"Dumbass kids," he sighed, the four small squares with the faces of the teenagers staring up at him.

Steven, Kettlehead, the foreigner, and his son were on the front page in small black and white ink.

The Forman Residence was as quiet as a forest in the middle of the night. The sun might've been shining, but the mood of the house was anything but bright. For one thing, half of the people that usually occupied the house weren't present. The sounds of the usual remarks and comments that came with the gang was notably absent.

Red strolled into the kitchen, sitting in his usual chair while he stayed staring at front headline. He knew that this was coming after the phone call two nights ago from the preason. He sighed again, placing the newspaper on the table as he gazed at the spot at the table across from his.

The spot where Eric usually sat.

Red then looked over to the swinging door when it opened, the frame of his daughter Laurie entering the kitchen. She didn't look at her father right away, grabbing a bowl and spoon and cereal before she had noticed her father was in the room with her.

"Hey Daddy," she greeted in that tone that she always used when around him as she sat at the table with him.

"Hey kitten," he greeted back with a nod. Laurie nodded back and sat at the seat next to Red, pouring herself a bowl of plain cereal. It was just one of the many glimpses into how the Formans attitude was at the moment.

Again, the silence was back. The two Formans present stayed silent as Laurie ate her cereal, without milk, Red sat still looking at his daughter, and the small picture of Eric staring up at them from the table.

After a long silence and Laurie finishing more than half her cereal, Red decided to break it. "Your mother still in bed?" He asked a question he already knew the answer to, but he just needed the silence to end. It was infuriating.

Laurie gave a simple nod. "Yeah... just like she was yesterday when the sentence was confirmed."

Red can only nod his head. After the events of the night he got the call, Kitty had unofficially, but very clearly, made the decision to stay in the bed that they shared to wallow away in depression. Red didn't blame her nor was he surprised. In fact, he kinda expected this when he had found out their son was going to jail.

Red had attempted to get her out of bed and to stop crying. He failed at the former and the only time Kitty had stopped with the tears was when she finally tired out and slept. And when she woke up, the crying resumed like if it never stopped.

And it was because of the four dumbasses getting arrested.

Laurie had either just noticed the newspaper or just finally decided to acknowledge that it was there. "They're a lot of things," she started, garnering her the attention of her father. "But killers? No..." she tapped the paper. "They didn't do this, Daddy."

Red didn't move, but he did agree with his daughter. Eric even told him the same thing that night. That they didn't do it and were framed. In the moment, he didn't really take time to think about it, the shock being what clouded his mind, but he did honestly think that the boys were innocent.

"They're getting transferred today," Red said. "Caldwell State Penitentiary. That's not that far from here, maybe an hour away," He left the sentence dangling, but his daughter got the idea he was trying to implement. They were going to see Eric.

Red sighed. "Just hope that dumbass can make it until everything is cleared up." He said in his usual firm tone, but the small trace of fear that leaked in showed that he feared for his son's well being. It was Eric after all. The nerd in prison, with his only companions Dumb and Dumber and Steven? The odds were not that high.

"Orphan Boy is probably their only hope."

Red nodded, agreeing with his daughter again. Steven was a tough kid. And he was smart. And smart can help you a lot more than any brawn or fatigue can.

Red placed a palm on the table. "Go call Donna and Jackie, let them know we're going to visit them." He stood up. "I'll go get your mother."

...

"Open up on Forty!"

Hyde grimaced at the tone of the guard standing next to him, his eardrum ringing from the volume of the shout. His orange prison jumpsuit caused an itch in his groin area that he wanted to scratch, but wisely didn't due to the idea it would give to the observers behind the other bars around him.

The sounds of the inmates behind him was making him feel uneasy. Whether they were complaining about the heat or just making noise to piss off the guards, Hyde felt his knees weaken just a tiny bit. He wouldn't buckle down though. Then that means they won and he lost.

He wasn't letting that happen.

He watched the cell door slowly slide open, stepping inside once he had the space necessary to edge his way in. His hands folded around the box of things that he was given once he was committed. They were just extra jumpsuits and a toothbrush. Nothing exciting.

His head turned to the person behind him as he stepped in, his usual grinning face now covered with a worried frightened wide eyed look that would develop laughter in the stomachs of the other inmates. He too was wearing the orange prison jumpsuit and also carrying a box similar to his.

The guard that had escorted them gave them a haunting smirk that Hyde absolutely hated. Made him sick to his stomach in annoyance, badly wanting to clock him in the jaw.

"Welcome home..." his rough tone made the uneasiness grow as Hyde watched the cell doors close, leaving him trapped in the small cage with the person next to him. The guard walked away, allowing Hyde to drop his box to his feet and give a middle finger to the back of the guard.

"Prick." Hyde spat as he looked to the still form of his new cellmate. "Hey, Kelso, you might wanna stop looking like you're about to get murdered. It ain't helping our situation,"

Kelso dropped his box to the floor as well, staring at Hyde with that same face that he's had since they took their prison mugshot photos. He pointed a finger at Hyde. "We just might get murdered in here, Hyde!" He exclaimed. "Look at where we are!"

Hyde pretended to really observe the cell and then turned to Kelso not a second later. "We're in prison, doofus."

"Exactly!" Kelso shook a palm in the air. "We are in jail! And we're never getting out!" He reminded, Hyde having to suck a breath in at the reminder. He wished he was allowed to have his shades so Kelso couldn't see the small traces of fear in his eyes.

He quickly regained his composure, or at least what ever he had since arrival in the prison bus a few short minutes ago. "We'll get out Kelso," he aimed to instill some hope in his friend so he can calm down. He was attracting attention from the cells across from them, Hyde clearly seeing the pressed up face of a large black man in the cell across. "We've been in jail before..."

Kelso, however, didn't calm. His fear instead escalated pass what Hyde considered the heart attack level of stress and fear.

"No, that is not the same as this!" Hyde nodded stiffly. Yeah, the comparison was bad even to him. "We're in the big house now! Its over for us and its because of-!"

He didn't get to finish as the sound of authoritative yelling killed the words on Kelso's lips.

"Open up on Twelve!"

Hyde gave a shrug at Kelso. "Guess we found Fez or Eric," he said. He edged past Kelso, standing just behind the cell door as he looked on down to the ground floor, his eyes as focused as a predator hunting for its next victim.

Fez timidly shook as he stepped into the cell across and directly below Hyde and Kelso's, the orange jumpsuit too big on his chest; making the jumpsuit sag just a little bit. Fez didn't move as the door slid closed and trapped him with whoever was there with him. Hyde had to frown. He assumed Eric wasn't there with the foreigner.

Fez instead turned around, his own cardboard box held loose in his hands as he looked on over the cellblock they were all trapped in. The sounds of the other prisoners was lost as Fez's eyes found their way to Hyde's. Both friends stared at one another, Fez frightened and Hyde more angry than Zen.

The power of Fez's eyes spoke volumes to Hyde, and he can just hear what the foreigner wanted to tell him.

'Help.'

It really hurt Hyde. It hurt that they were stuck in prison for something they didn't even do, which was what Kelso was starting to say before the guard cut him off. It also hurt that while Hyde had gotten Kelso as a cellmate, Fez and the missing Eric were on their own against the other inmate within the trapped space of their cell. Their new 'home' according to the asshole guard that escorted them.

According to that guard, Hyde thinking his name was Bradley 'Brad' Brooks, the four of them filled up the last spaces available.

Lucky them...

"Open on Twenty-Four!"

For the third time, Hyde heard the voice of the guard and the sound of a cell opening. Kelso now stood behind him as he looked on over the general area with him.

Hyde pinned his face to the cell as he caught a glimpse of Eric, dressed the same as the three of them and holding a fourth identical cardboard box, step into a cell almost close to the very end of the left side of the second story floor. He couldn't see inside his cell like he could Fez's, which made Hyde feel more scared and uneasy than he thought.

Fez stared at Eric from his cell and gave a look to Hyde and Kelso, slowly nodding afterwards. The other two nodded. This was good. They can see one another.

Hyde and Kelso can see Fez.

Fez can see them and Eric.

Eric can see Fez.

Though the distance between them was small, it felt larger than they stomach. If they could, Eric and Fez would be in a cell right next to them. And if they had a genie, their second wish would be them getting out of this place. The third Hyde would use to remove that giant stick up Brad's ass.

Kelso placed a hand on Hyde's shoulder. "We are finished," he said after not being able to look at Fez's scared eyes any longer. "We're done. We're gonna die here." He was sure of that, walking backward and hopping on top bunk. "This is not happening..." he mumbled to himself.

Hyde sighed, waiting till Fez turned around before he did so himself. He leaned against the cell door. "It is happening and instead of sitting there complaining about it, you can toughen up or else these big boys are gonna chew you up and spit you right back out." He sounded rough, but this was prison. Kelso would thank him later.

Kelso stared at him. "Hyde maybe you are just in bigger denial than me, but we are in prison!" He stressed. "We're in prison for a crime we didn't even commit!"

Hyde sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah Kelso, I know that. We got drunk and one thing led to another and we got arrested." He looked at the hazy and dirty reflection of himself in the mirror by the toilet. "We pissed off the wrong guy and he screwed us back even worse by getting us arrested." Hyde shrugged. "Wrong place and wrong time."

He strolled over to the bottom bunk, taking a seat on it as he laid back and stared at the bottom of Kelso's mattress. He had a lot of thoughts about that night two days ago and the brutal night the four of them stayed in the holding cell while they pinpointed them to the crime scene.

He closed his eyes at the image of the bar, the threats, the alley way, the dead body, the gun, and at the preason they were locked in last night.

One stupid night of being drunk ended with them being framed for a murder. He had to snort. That was definitely not how he pictured it ending that night.

He coldly remembered the smug smirk on that prick's face as they were hauled away. He set them up and he was beyond pissed for that. When he got out of here, Hyde was kicking his ass for doing this to them. Hell, he might kill him so he has a reason to be in jail.

"Hyde?" Kelso said from his bunk. Hyde made an ahem noise that let Kelso know he was listening. "I just realized that I'm good looking..." Hyde almost leaned over to look at him confused. Kelso always knew he was good looking.

What he said next filled the blanks. "And in prison..." his tone suggested to Hyde that he was crapping himself from the bunk. Hyde had to give a Red Forman worthy 'Oh crap' at the sudden news. They weren't in prison for a whole thirty minutes and already potential 'prison love' was in the air for Kelso.

Hyde knew the poor guy had to be wetting himself so bad at the dangerously high possibility of him being targeted. He didn't know what to do about that. He'll of course have Kelso's back, but Hyde wouldn't be much help if more than one inmate came after Kelso at the same time.

He shook his head as he sat up, appalled that he was even having to think of a solution for this kind of scenario. He shouldn't be doing this. He should be in the basement at Forman's sitting in a circle, not stuck in some claustrophobic rectangle in prison.

"Hyde what are we gonna do?"

Standing up, Hyde walked back to the cell door and looked around. The guards were all pacing and exiting the cellblock, more taking their positions around the stairwells of the area. He had to smirk as something came to him. Not even an hour in the big house and he was making plans.

Seeing the guards leave, coupled with the many stories he heard about his family from his mother or witnessed himself about prison that decided to plague his mind, Hyde gave Kelso a three word answer.

"We're breaking out."

End of Chapter 1 of Wrongful Imprisonment

Hyde works fast. I guess its that delinquent and rebel in him that came up with the plan. Now let's see how he orchestrates it.

Hope you guys are intrigued and curious about what's happened to them. Its definitely a brain jerker for sure.

We'll see him take the first steps necessary next time as he and the others adjust to their surroundings and maybe make new friends and new enemies.

We'll also see the other girls next time as they go to visit the guys in the big house. I do plan to slowly reveal how they got arrested in the first place and who framed them. On the up note, there will be some Jackie/Hyde moments as they go for visits and even other pairings.

Next Time: White vs. Black


End file.
